I just started a Facebook group called Lesbian Buddhist Yoginis. It is for serious long term lesbian or bi practitioners of the Mahayana or Vajrayana. It's just a networking thing, nothing political. Because of the way FB is structured, folks membership will be completely public. Please let your relevant friends know.

Generally speaking spiritual communities of all kinds in the west are mostly women, so I would expect to see lesbians.There among them are plenty of gay men. In Dharma there seems to more gender parity.

ngodrup wrote:Generally speaking spiritual communities of all kinds in the west are mostly women, so I would expect to see lesbians.There among them are plenty of gay men. In Dharma there seems to more gender parity.

I remember one (male) Western Magician remarking that women are more spiritually inclined. It does seem to be true.

Equanimity is the ground. Love is the moisture. Compassion is the seed. Bodhicitta is the result.

"All memories and thoughts are the union of emptiness and knowing, the Mind.Without attachment, self-liberating, like a snake in a knot.Through the qualities of meditating in that way,Mental obscurations are purified and the dharmakaya is attained."

ngodrup wrote:Generally speaking spiritual communities of all kinds in the west are mostly women, so I would expect to see lesbians.There among them are plenty of gay men. In Dharma there seems to more gender parity.

In general, I see more lesbians where there are female teachers and a welcoming environment. Still, I know only a handful who are really into the aspect of committed long term practice, ngondro completion, and so forth. More gay men, but not tons.

ngodrup wrote:Generally speaking spiritual communities of all kinds in the west are mostly women, so I would expect to see lesbians.There among them are plenty of gay men. In Dharma there seems to more gender parity.

Yea. When I practiced Zen, it was all dudes. Now that I've started studying with Tibetan sanghas, it's almost the opposite. Lots of women involved in Tibetan Budhism in the US

ngodrup wrote:Generally speaking spiritual communities of all kinds in the west are mostly women, so I would expect to see lesbians.There among them are plenty of gay men. In Dharma there seems to more gender parity.

I remember one (male) Western Magician remarking that women are more spiritually inclined. It does seem to be true.

Because the female is an embodiment of wisdom, Tibetan tantricas generally say that it's easier for a woman to accomplish.Arguably, from a Western POV, we could conjecture that women intuit more easily.

ngodrup wrote:Generally speaking spiritual communities of all kinds in the west are mostly women, so I would expect to see lesbians.There among them are plenty of gay men. In Dharma there seems to more gender parity.

In general, I see more lesbians where there are female teachers and a welcoming environment. Still, I know only a handful who are really into the aspect of committed long term practice, ngondro completion, and so forth. More gay men, but not tons.

Yudron, why do you think it is that men are more willing to do the work of practice, than the women who have the advantage?

There seems to be some truth to the stereotype that women are more oriented to relationship. I do think I notice that women are brought in to Tibetan Buddhist groups via family relationships and lovers. Then it seems that women often sacrifice their own time for personal practice either to their family/partner's needs, or to the needs of the lama and center for help. I'm not saying that is negative. There is always a push pull between our Bodhisattva vow and taking time for practice--be it an hour or three years--isn't there?

Specifically to lesbians--we have had at least three complete three year retreat at our center, so we are no slouches. And two more went through another California Druptra. But, for beginners, it is very difficult to get beyond the aversion to organized religion, given that it has been so rejecting. And it's not all in the past tense, the kind of rejecting and pseudo-tantric baloney talk I've seen posted by participants on this forum, for example, doesn't help. So, there are big obstacles to taking refuge. Then, one needs to trust a teacher, enjoy the imagery, learn a little, and feel it is valuable to spend one's time and energy practicing. If we had a lesbian lama leading Throma cycle practice, for example, I would imaging there would be hundreds if not thousands of lesbians drawn to that, and some practicing regularly... because women are hungry for the fierce feminine. Is that kind of insular? Yes. But there are reasons for that, and the Vajrayana has countless skillful means for all kinds of sentient beings to be tamed. The guru yoga dynamism of Yeshe Tsogyal and Guru Rinpoche magnetizes some, and between Throma and Vajravarahi (in the Throma ngondro), others.

Remember Fred Brown? He departed for the pure land a few years ago. When I was checking out Lama Tharchin Rinpoche in 2007 I remember over-hearing a conversation where two new gay men asked him in the bookstore whether Rinpoche was comfortable with us gays and lesbians, and he reassured them. That sealed the deal for me. It sounds like we are all children, needing reassurance like that, but a relationship with a lama is intimate, and one needs to know that one is loved and accepted through and through before embarking on such a thing.

ngodrup wrote:Oh before Fred... I remember when he was doing daily infusions at Phurba retreat.The first person to do drupdra in our community was a gay man, the first personRinpoche even though about.

Yup. That was a few years before my before my time. I never met him.

Did you read Tsultrim Allione's Chod book? There was a whole chapter in there about Fred. Part of his longevity with AIDs was related to doing her chod practice.

I remember reading an interview with John Giorno in a borrowed copy of Queer Dharma. As I recall, the interviewer was asking Mr. Giorno's questions about gays in the Dharma, welcome or not, and he said something like, "Well, Lama Tharchin Rinpoche is here in my apartment right now, why don't you ask him?"

Yudron wrote:I just started a Facebook group called Lesbian Buddhist Yoginis. It is for serious long term lesbian or bi practitioners of the Mahayana or Vajrayana. It's just a networking thing, nothing political. Because of the way FB is structured, folks membership will be completely public. Please let your relevant friends know.

The more practitioners, the more potential sources of merit.I am unaware of specific practices around or for Lesbians. I hope they exist or will be created. Yum-Yum sort of thing . . . a modernized ubhatovyanjañaka . . .